Escarcega Pleads Guilty To Aggravated Assault on a Public Servant

LUBBOCK, TX - Jose Escarcega, 21, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault against a public servant Friday morning.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

"I know that my client, Mr. Escarcega, didn't mean for the officer to be hurt or be injured in this incident, it's an unfortunate situation that he feels bad about and that's why he took the plea." said Nick Olguin, the attorney for Escarcega.

"We feel like this was a good result for both sides and we think it was a good resolution to this case," Olguin said.

"For the criminal side of it, he recognizes what he did was wrong, he understands that the jury could have found him guilty of a reckless act, and because of that, we decided to take the plea deal," Olguin said.

Escarcega was arrested on July 30, 2015 for charges of aggravated assault on a public servant.

According to police, just before midnight on July 30, 2015, an officer stopped to help a disabled driver at 19th and Iola, then helped push the car into a parking lot nearby.

Police said not long after that, dispatch told the officer the car had been reported stolen. That's when the officer tried to take the suspect into custody, but the suspect ran off. The officer followed in his police Tahoe.

According to Lubbock Police, when the officer tried to take the suspect into custody, he got away and got into the driver's side of the police car and began to drive very fast, while the officer was holding on to the car. That's when police said the suspect crashed the car.